Neither Casablanca nor Horatius at the bridge surpa.s.sed in heroism young Osmond Kelly Ingram, who threw overboard the explosives on the American destroyer Ca.s.sin in order that the German submarine"s torpedo should not detonate them and destroy his ship--and gave his life for his comrades and his country in doing so. Ingram sought danger instead of fleeing it.
He might have saved his life without discredit. But he did not think of his life--or if he thought of it, he knew that he was deliberately sacrificing it. And he acted with instant resolution.
To his courage and his quickness is due the fact that Ingram"s was the only life lost in the German attack on the Ca.s.sin. That result he foresaw and welcomed. He knew how to take death as his portion without an instant"s hesitation. He was of the breed of heroes, and his name will be borne forever on the nation"s roll of honor.--Boston Transcript.
THE ROAD WAS OPEN.
France"s wonderful highways which saved her in this war are as crooked as a jig saw puzzle, but there are excellent maps which show every road in the country. Up near the fighting front, however, the new military roads are as broad and as good as some of the old highways which have survived since the days of the Romans and more than a map is needed if you want to remain in France.
A few days ago two American newspaper correspondents were travelling from one French city to another, the shortest course, according to the same excellent maps, taking them close back of the French lines. All day there had been a blinding snow, it was deep and loose on the ground, and the car was going as fast as possible for safety.
Temporary wooden signs at cross roads showed the direction of different camps. The road plunged through a forest, occasionally they pa.s.sed a soldier plodding through the snow, then emerged along the base of a ridge honeycombed with dug-outs and bombproofs on its sheltered side. It was plain that they were close to the front. Soldiers peered from doorways at the car skidding through the swirling snow; then the huts ceased. For a mile the correspondents ran behind a flapping wall of canvas camouflage, with barbwire entanglements on the other side of the road. The map indicated they were on the right road.
Then they came to a barbwire affair like a turnstile lying on its side in the middle of the road, and stopped. They could not see a hundred feet through the fog and snow, but could hear the m.u.f.fled boom of nearby cannon. The map showed only three kilometers ahead the main highway to the city they were headed for. They did not know that the German trenches were only two kilometers ahead and that the snow was the only reason the Boche had not seen them and favored them with a shot. Two French officers came along and in his best French one of the correspondents asked if they could get through on that road.
"Yes, if you speak German," was the answer with a laugh and in excellent English.
THERE"S A REASON.
"For Pete"s sake, Ed, quit tryin" to pick your teeth with your fork!
Mind your manners, man!"
"Aw, go easy, Mike; how"n"ell am I goin" to buy a toothpick, with wood so expensive in France?"
SEA SLANG PUZZLES POILU.
Trips on an Idiom and His Pride Takes a Fall.
Among the idiomatic terms adopted by United States Marines everywhere, the expression "shove off" is used more frequently than any other. In the sea-soldier lingo, if a Marine goes home on furlough, leaves his camp or garrison or goes anywhere, he "shoves off."
A story comes from France of a Marine who had been acting as orderly for a lieutenant. The officer sent him on an errand, and when he returned the lieutenant was nowhere about. A poilu, who happened to be loitering in the vicinity, was questioned by the Marine:
"Have you seen the lieutenant?"
"Oui, monsieur, oui," replied the poilu, proud of his newly acquired Marine Corps English, "he have--what you call--pushed over."
HOW ABOUT THEM?
Things that make all the difference in the world:--
A letter from (fill in name to suit yourself.)
A real soap-and-hot-water bath.
A real shave.
Dry feet.
American tobacco.
"Good work!" from the skipper.
A home-town paper less than a month old.
"Seconds" on coffee--when it"s made right.
Pay-day.
YANKEE AVIATORS PLAY IN LUCK
Dead Engine Sneezes and Picks Up after a 2,000 Meter Drop.
SKY FULL OF CREAM PUFFS.
Observer Who Fails to Surround Something Hot Faints From the Cold.
Those were American boys who dodged Boche air patrols, laughed at anti-aircraft guns and spattered bombs upon Rombach and Ludwigshafen far behind the Boche lines.